Adelaide United's Michael Marrone sees four-game ban reduced by FFA

Marrone had been seeking to take a quick throw-in during extra time against Sydney FC but the ball boy -- who later joined in Sydney's victory celebrations and was given a winner's medal by Michael Zullo -- did not give the ball back.

The defender, 30, tried to take it off him but the ball boy turned away and, in so doing, fell to the ground under the weight of the player's momentum.

Marrone's sentence was shortened to just two matches after he faced Football Federation Australia's independent disciplinary and ethics committee in Sydney on Tuesday night.

Having already served his mandatory match suspension for the red card he was shown, Marrone will only miss the match against Sydney FC on Dec. 1 before he'll be free to return against Melbourne Victory on Dec. 8. Adelaide said they accepted the result.

In dealing out the punishment for serious unsporting conduct, the committee took into account Marrone's near-perfect disciplinary record featuring a single previous red card across 188 professional games.

It also acknowledged the incident had occurred in the 115th minute of a cup final -- a moment of particularly heightened tension -- given the Reds had just conceded a goal putting them 2-1 down to eventual winners Sydney FC.

Tensions between Adelaide and Sydney heated up on the pitch after the ball boy incident in the 2017 FFA Cup final.